


Lost in the Wastelands

by GarbedInBlack



Category: Borderlands (Video Games), Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: A little bit of Rhys/Ross but it's like a one time no strings attached sort of thing., Jack doesn't wanna skin Rhys in this one., M/M, Merc!Timothy, Ross is my special baby boi OC
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-10-16 14:16:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17551265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GarbedInBlack/pseuds/GarbedInBlack
Summary: It'd been a week or so after the Vault of the Traveler. A week since Fiona and Sasha's disappearance. At first, Rhys didn't mind that he'd been left behind because he was gonna get it all: fortune, fame... Ladies? Or whatever Jack was telling him. He didn't need a Vault because he was going be a Hyperion king and no deal could be better than that. Well, that's what Rhys kept trying to tell himself anyway as he trudged his designer skag boots through the Pandoran soil, searching for a relic long lost in the wastelands.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not the greatest writer in the world, I know, but I'm trying. Just bare with me. Anyway, this chapter is short because it's a tester to see if this does well. I hope it does because I had fun writing this actually.
> 
> Also, a good description of Ross is, okay, look up Andy LaPlegua, take his face, and paste it onto Pre-Sequel WIlhelm's body type. Good enough? Good.
> 
> I can't find one for Judi.

It'd been a week or so after the Vault of the Traveler. A week since Fiona and Sasha's disappearance. At first, Rhys didn't mind that he'd been left behind because he was gonna get it all: fortune, fame... Ladies? Or whatever Jack was telling him. He didn't need a Vault because he was going be a Hyperion king and no deal could be better than that. Well, that's what Rhys kept trying to tell himself anyway as he trudged his designer skag boots through the Pandoran soil, searching for a relic long lost in the wastelands.

This relic went by the name of Timothy Lawrence, one of Jack's many doppelgangers, but the last of it's kind due to Jack going with a much cheaper option: glamour devices. That's why this gem was so special. That's why this was so important to acquire. That's why Rhys was still burning his pale his skin up in this damn unforgiving heat, trying to find it.

Licking his chapped lips, sweeping his eyes all across this scorching hot desert, he turned to Ross, one of his current travelling companions. Ross was a Hyperion guard, well, actually Jack's new bodyguard once this journey was over since Jack's old one got wasted by a vault hunter. He was quite a stocky looking guy, even with being stripped of his Hyperion themed armor leaving him in a sweat soaked black t-shirt. He was blonde, blue-eyed, and built like a tank, looking as though he had muscle on top of muscle, but he wasn't too hard on the eyes - or so Rhys thought.

"Do you think this lead might be it? Because I'm seeing no signs out here, especially signs of life other than you, Judi and myself. Do you really think its out here?" Rhys asked, the beaming sun making him furrow his eyebrows and squint.

"If our guy's not out here, I'll buy you a drink at the nearest shithole bar we can find and call it quits for the night. Our hard ass boss doesn't need to know a thing about our little break." The brute chuckled halfheartedly, flashing Rhys a big toothy grin.

"Yeah..." Rhys didn't like talking about 'it' like it was a person. Made things more personal and he wanted to be as impersonal as he could with this mission. He knew what was going to happen... What Jack was going to use it for. He also never knew if or when the fuck Ross was flirting with him, which was really starting to piss him off because he couldn't tell whether he should flirt back or not to save himself from looking like an presumptuous idiot. He instead smiled back, saying, "Deal." And moved on.

He peeked over at Judi, who had to be the most mysterious out of the group. Not exactly in the best way though. She was just mysterious in the way of no one knowing a thing about her. He only knew she was stunningly gorgeous, often sneaking peeks at her long legs and small waist. He looked at other things too, but he definitely wouldn't admit to it. Sadly, she was always typing away on her device, contributing nothing to the banter other than a few hmm's, yes's, no's, and the occasional next lead they'd be headed towards. He'd of liked to know her better other than her being some surgeon big-shot. Rhys was sure if Ross and he decided to get naked and streak across the desert plains, she wouldn't even notice. It was pretty dang tempting too.

"Ugh..." Falling to his knees, he gripped and tugged at the collar of his button-up, loosening his necktie some more. "I don't think it's ever been this hot on Pandora before. I could cook an egg on my back, sunny-side up, and eat it if I really wanted to, except I don't have any eggs."

"Pfft." Ross rested his shotgun against his shoulder, tilting his head slightly at the younger man. Lifting his gaze maybe a foot above Rhys's head, he readied his gun back in his hands. "Let's ask the locals if they have any."

Turning his head, Rhys saw a group of scavengers walking down a sand hill, seeming to not have taken notice of the three. Four were middle-aged women along with a little boy, about the age of 7, holding his mother's hand, waddling a little behind her, trying to keep up. The boy was the first to notice Ross, pointing saying "Scary man!", alarming the the others, who speedily drew their weapons.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Ross threw his heavy gun to the ground beside him, putting his hands up in surrender. "You're in no trouble ladies. Just curious to why you're out here so far from shelter and food with a kid, no less, when there's skags and rakks crawling all over the place."

They stayed silent, looking to each other to confirm whether they should trust Ross or not. One nodded her head and they all lowered their pistols and rifles. Assume she's the leader.

"Bandits ransacked our homes and killed our people, so we're headed towards whatever's next." Wow. Blunt much.

"That is quite the sob story. Now, tell us; did you come from Dirtwater?" Kind of harsh how he blew that off, but this was Pandora after all. You'll hear the same tale everywhere you go on this savage planet. There was nothing shocking about it.

The leader looked to have hesitated for a moment before nodding once.

"There's nothing there anymore though, so what's it to you?"

"Well," Ross patted around for his Echo device, pulling it out to check out something. "How about you ladies follow us. We're about four miles south from Dust. I'm sure you'll find a few beds-"

"We're on a mission. Ignore them." And Judi speaks! Doesn't even look up from her Holo pad, so that's typical.

Ross cranes his head around to give her the strangest stare, looking at her like she just admitted to burning down an orphanage.

"And let them get eaten alive by skags and whatever the hell is out here? Wouldn't be surprised if it was huge ass sand snake, I don't care. They have a kid with them. We can't do that."

"Yes, we can and we will." And Rhys suddenly remembered how much of a cold-stone bitch Judi was. He was actually happy that he didn't know her more than he did. He just stayed quiet because, man, he had no idea what the hell to do in these situations and rather not get invested in them like Ross did.

"They're coming." The guard gestured to the group to follow. " You're coming."

"I'll tell Jack."

"Go ahead. I'll kiss his ass if I have to." Now, Rhys was butting in, now standing, giving her a stern look. She actually eyed him. "If Ross wants them to tag along to Dusttowne, let him." Frankly, it was getting late and Rhys was ready to have that drink.

She rolled her eyes and that was the end of it.

~3 days ago~

Rhys stood outside of the office door of Handsome Jack. It had been four days since the Vault of the Traveler and also since Jack had been jacked into Helios space-station, reigning over Hyperion once more. The brunette was feeling strange now that his life had changed so drastically. I mean, he personally knew the man he'd idolized for years, well, a very spot-on copy of him, but same difference. It was Handsome Jack either way. He was very nervous and uncomfortable with the favor Jack had asked of him too.

"Kiddo." Rhys jumped, wide eyes darting straight towards the door. The voice came from inside. "I can see you through the security cameras. Come in. Stop hanging around the door. Its creepy."

He took a breath shortly before going in. "Hey, so about that fetch mission you're sending me on-"

"You're taking it? I knew you would. You'd never disappoint me, would ya, Rhysie?" And if Jack wasn't a big blue projection on a glass window, he'd surely have his feet propped up on his desk with hands behind his neck, smiling real big and chilling.

"I, uh-"

"Ya know what I'm excited about most when I get my new meat suit? Eating about 14 pounds of nachos. I'm gonna binge. I might even make a muk-bang and send it to ya later."

"Yeah, I-"

"Ya know what else? Rubbing one out. I feel like I haven't done that in ages. Can't really whip it out and play good ole' tug-o-war when you have holo hands; phases right through ya. Hell, knowing TimTams, I'd probably have my virginity again. I might need to hook up a date. Say, do ya know any hot chicks in your department that'd mind giving me a hand?" The hologram laughs, putting a hand on his non-existent chest. "You get it?"

"Yes, but... Can I speak now? You're interrupting me a lot and I was just wondering when it'd be my turn."

"OoOoo. Sassy. I always liked that about you, kid." Pointing at Rhys's direction. "Don't give a shit who you're talking to - just like me. That's why we're gonna be such great partners. I should order us some besties t-shirts. Do you want yours in blue? I thinking about getting custom ones with mine in yellow, saying 'Boss #1' and you're 'Boss #2'. Sound good?"

"Whatever, sure. Can we be serious for a moment? I really need to talk to you about something." Rhys clearly didn't have time for any of Jack's shenanigans.

"Sure, cupcake. Shoot." The blue AI turned down his regular grin to a small smirk.

"Why can't you take a dead body, perform plastic surgery on it to make it look like you, and use that? I don't see why we have to kill someone so you can live again." Having someone's life in his hands was something he didn't look forward to. Why didn't Handsome Jack have someone else do this? Why him?

"Rhysie, baby, that's not how this works. I need fresh tissue. I can't use the dead because the stitches won't heal and I don't know about you, but I don't wanna walk around looking like Frankenstein's monster. You want me to be me again, don't you? Your oh so great leader, your hero, the one and only. Baby, come on, you and I could have so much fun with my new body." He wiggled his eyebrows. Was... Was Jack hitting on him? Its not the first time, but it was still baffling. This man had a reputation with women, not men.

Rhys's cheeks became rosy. He averted his eyes then shook his head.

"Thanks for the offer, Jack, but no. I won't be another notch on your belt. Your ego is the size of a planet as it is, so I'm not gonna inflate it." This all was such a let down. He'd definitely have to go through with this. There was no way he could back out of this one and his good conscience was going to suffer.

"Watch it. Now, you're getting a little too feisty. Remember who's boss." Jack pointed to himself. "That's right. Me. Boss #1."

Rhys flipped him off.

"Aww, real cute, pumpkin. Now, are we done here or am I gonna have to get Rick in here to spank you for my amusement?"

"Ross."

"What?"

"His name is Ross."

"Does it look like I care. Get outta here." That got him a bit riled up and with that, Rhys left.

~Present~

Dusttowne. An unfortunate place to stuck in, but at least it was some place rather than nowhere. It was like Lynchwood, but with fewer bandits. It had a saloon, which is about as western you can get. Had an Inn too, which was a rarity, but good for the group of women they had behind them. They'd hopefully sleep safely tonight. They all seemed to gather around Ross, like he was some big hunky protector. The youngest out of the women even had the guts to lock arms with him, flirting with him all the way. Rhys found it kind of funny because Ross was visibly uncomfortable with the situation.

"Sheila, let that man be. He's had enough of you today." Said the leader of the scavengers, looking at the girl.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Of course, she was playing coy.

"I do and if you don't let go of my arm, I won't hesitate to hog-tie you up, walk you four miles back, and drop you off where we found you. Pretty sure the skags would find you in less then 5 minutes tops." Yeah, pretty sure he was on his last straw.

All the women backed away, eyes the size of the moon, knowing they'd have to tread more lightly.

"He's just kidding! He's just kidding!" Rhys laughed nervously, trying to comfort the girls. "He's a big joker. Aren't you, Ross?" Rhys punched Ross's shoulder playfully, gulping once he saw Ross's reaction: eyes of a killer. He'd regret this.

"Thank you, mister." Blurted the little boy, staring up at him with an open smile and a few missing teeth.

Ross's eyes softened when they landed on the kid. He had a soft spot for kids, even if they were Pandoran.

"No problem, kid." He turned to his group. "Let's get a move on."

They began making their way to the saloon. Rhys looked back for a moment, seeing the women and child rush inside the inn. Judi ran off - he didn't know where. She did that often. Directing his attention back around to Ross, he quirked a brow.

"Couldn't have just told her to stop there, buddy?"

"I did." Ross shrugged. "Didn't work, so I did what I thought necessary."

"Yeah, but more inappropriate than necessary I think."

"How about you don't get into my matters and we have a drink, 'kay?" He said as he sat down on the bar stool, "Might wanna ditch the new tie for bit. People find out you're Hyperion and they'll blow your brains out before you know it." 

Rhys looked down at his tie, seeing the Hyperion 'H' logo on it. He'd forgotten how much people hated Hyperion on this planet. Hyperion hated Pandora too, but everyone on Helios thought they were doing the planet a service.

"Shit, I forgot." He quickly untied the accessory, folding it up, and putting it in his pocket.

"Yeah... Pandora... Thank the hell out of my employers for getting me off this carcass of a dog's asshole of a planet. Daddy was a drunk, beat me with the bottle. Momma was an addict and I was her little delivery boy." Saying that like it was nothing, but it absolutely horrified Rhys. 

"Oh my god..." Fuck it. He wasn't going to delve into Ross's shitty childhood. "Just buy me a drink already. I need to forget that I'm on this dump."

"Sure thing, sweet stuff." He waved his hand, slapping down some cash. " Two bottles of your hardest liquor."

"Make it three, boys." In popped Judi, taking the bar stool next to them.

"Hey, would you look at that? The Truxican has come to drink us under the table!" He slapped some more cash on the table, taking a cigarette out of a carton, and putting it between his lips before lighting it. He pinched it between his fingers, took a drag, then blew the smoke in Rhys's face. He smiled in amusement as the young man coughed, trying to wave it away from his face.

"Can you not do that?" Rhys pointed towards the cigarette, in which Judi reached over and grabbed for it, taking a puff and handing it back.

"Do what?" Ross lifted it to his mouth again, leaning his elbow against the bar island.

"Give me cancer."

"I'm sure Hyperion would come up with a cure. I mean, your sugar daddy would be devastated." Their drinks were set on the table, distracting the two of them for a split second. Judi, of course, checking her Holo pad. "Hold this." Ross handed Rhys the cig, who was too busy being appalled by the phrase 'sugar daddy'.

"He is not my sugar daddy!" Rhys took the cig, giving it a curious stare and thought, 'Fuck, might as well.' Took a huff, instantly jerked from a hard cough, bringing tears to his eyes, trying to hold it all back as he exhaled the smoke. A ton of coughs came out, turning his face beet red. Ross patted his back, laughing at him.

"You're not suppose to swallow the smoke." The blonde stated while cracking open his beer.

"Fuck you, I almost died." His hand yanking the beer from Ross's hand. He threw his head back and chugged it like there was no tomorrow. He wanted to get blackout drunk and he was down to get a hangover the next day for this.


	2. Hangover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhys is hungover. Jack calls him. Things get worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter. Just wanted to fix the 1/1 chapter thing. This gonna have many chapters.

He immediately regretted getting completely sloshed the next day. If it wasn't the major headache pounding through his skull then it definitely was either empty-stomached nausea or the bright ass sun hurting his one real eye, making his headache a thousand times worse. He'd been dry heaving the whole morning and he preferred it over eating anything at all just to puke it up back up again. He wanted to blame Ross for this since the dude offered him a drink in the first place, yet he knew it was his own mistake for greedily accepting it.

"We need to get to water soon because you look like you're about keel over any second now." Ross was genuinely worried about Rhys's health. It was insane how well the brute handled his alcohol because as soon as Rhys got done with his fifth bottle, he was out like a light. Pretty sure he got nice and cozy with the bar floor too, taking a good 15 minute nap before he felt someone big pick him up and carry him out.

The boy's eyes lazily set upon the older man, a look that said 'you have no idea how right you are' before retreating back to look at his cybernetic arm. The hot metal burned against his skin each time he'd bump it on his hip accidentally. Oh yeah, and he was shirtless this time. If the psychos had that freedom, he'd have it too. He was surprised Ross didn't join in. 

He turned back to take a glance at Judi, who was wearing jean shorts, a navy blue tank top, a pair of brown boots, and thick black glasses. She had her wavy black hair tied back and her tan skin glistened with sweat, oddly making her more attractive. Seeing her put down here holopad for once was nice. Judi looked back at Rhys, giving him a once-over. She reached around into her backpack, pulling out an over-sized thermos, throwing it to him.

"Here."

Rhys didn't even pause a beat: he caught it, screwed off the cap, and took a huge swig. 'Oh, thank god. Water', he thought and taking another drink. Once finished, he threw it back to her.

"Thanks." He said, sounding a little less hoarse than a bit ago.

She returned him a small smile. 

Ross looked between the two, finding the exchange sort of out of character for Judi to say the least. Rhys didn't think anything of it; he was just grateful to wet his throat. Also, how the hell did she have water this whole time and not tell the rest of the group?

"We're about a mile away from a Catch-a-Ride. Think you can deal?" Ross holding his Echo device in hand.

"Yes!" His voiced squeaked boyishly. It felt like forever since they'd had a vehicle when it was really only two days ago since their Hyperion issued car got hijacked by a bunch of midgets, who ran it into a rock and exploded. It was impossible for him to hate this planet more than he already did.

There was no sign of this Timothy character yet. Not like they could miss him because his appearance was pretty recognizable, looking like an unmasked Handsome Jack with an upside v-scar imprinted on his face. Rhys was happy Dirtwater was a dud because he really didn't wanna deal with anymore bandits than they had to. No matter, this guy was a bitch to find and has been for last 5 years. 

"Hey, kiddo. How is my favorite employee of the month doing?" Said a voice through Rhys's Echo communicator.

"Uhh, okayish? Dehydrated, been extremely nauseated, but I'm, um, good?"

"Cool, cool." He didn't even care. "So, about that mission you guys are on for me; what's the progress? Are... Are you guys even close? Because I'm getting bored as hell up here, having to deal with these dum-dums. They act they need an adjustment period and I'm half-tempted to eject myself out an airlock."

"Is this your way of saying you miss me?" He smiled to himself.

"What? No, I miss having a body more than anything. Listen. Don't let things go to your head, princess. You have no idea how I've been spending my last three days. I've been doing paranormal activity, turning on copying machines and hacking into computers, making monitors flash 'You will die in the next 7 days', making these code monkeys piss themselves. It was blast at first, but things get old quick... Take that back. That computer bit is still a knee-slapper." He heard the AI erupt with laughter. "Brings a tear to my eye."

"Haven't thought about hacking one of the roombas?"

"Oh, ho, ho! You mischievous minx. Yes, I already have. Security just shoots them for some friggin' reason."

"I believe it. It's been a thing as of late. Murderous roombas on the loose, going after Hyperion employees' toes. Just as any Hub of Heroism newspaper headline would say."

"No kidding?" Jack chuckled. "I'm gonna have to search through the security footage for that. Sounds like a hell of a time. Anyway, progress. Right now. Give it to me." He could hear snapping from the other side.

"Yeah, um," His hand rubbing the back of his neck as he laughed nervously. "We've not made any."

"Not made any? How?"

"Well, our car exploded, these leads are taking us nowhere because we're incapable of getting there on time and..." He looked around, a bit hesitant on whether he be honest or not. "We also stopped at a bar last night."

Silence. Just complete silence on the line and that was more terrifying than Jack yelling and threatening him.

"You, uh, there?" He chewed on his lip, feeling a tad anxious.

"Get it done or I'm gonna resort to other alternatives that involve you and a chopping board. No more funsy-good times. You search, you eat, you shit, you sleep, repeat. That's it. Got that?"

"Yes, sir." He said, but the call had already ended.

There was maybe a brief moment of nothing between the three. The first to speak up was Ross.

"What'd he say?"

"We search, eat, shit, and sleep. No more bars." It took Rhys a minute to reply, attempting to de-stress and not get worked up over the pressure. Jack and he seemed to be on the same level back when the AI was his in his Echo eye. Things have changed, whereas Jack was a dictator again and Rhys was now his new plaything to push around, not his equal. Of course, Jack had buttered him up when Rhys was all Jack had. The guy felt disappointed, knowing his gut was right; he couldn't trust Jack as far as he could throw him. He also felt like he needed to get rid of this skull splitting headache.


End file.
